Editor:
A conversation this week with a Banff bylaw officer about the traffic and parking changes made recently by town council only reinforced my own observations regarding the chaotic situation.
On a hot day this week, one van was overheating in bumper to bumper traffic on Bear Street. One RV pulling a car took up four angle parking stalls along the River. When he returned, he couldn’t get out due to the vehicles parked in front and behind him.
I have tried to help frustrated RV drivers find parking after circling around and not knowing where to go. It is totally inexcusable to put this stress on already stressed drivers when they get to Banff.
Angle parking puts children at risk when getting out of vehicles. The river road is too narrow for angle parking, not only for pedestrians, but also for vehicles trying to back out.
A former employee of transportation from Toronto was saying that scramble intersections are fine for a big city like Toronto, but here, the roads are too narrow. Traffic is backed up waiting for tardy scramblers to cross the intersection.
The bylaw officer blamed the situation on increased summer traffic and the inability of Banff’s infrastructure to handle the volume. Well, has council thought that by reducing visitor experience events, instead of packing in as many people as possible, it might just alleviate the situation?
As for my comment about the RV being trapped, he thought it served him right. I say he parked there out of complete desperation like many others who also park in the angle parking sites.
As for the one-way, why is it OK for bikers and skateboarders to go against the flow, making it twice as dangerous for trying to back out of these angled spots? There are many agitated drivers and pedestrians in Banff; I wonder why?
As well, I feel that 15 minutes is not long enough for people to go to the post office, or to Nesters. It’s hard to write a polite letter when all I see is total chaos from these parking and traffic changes.
They say “Out of Divine Chaos, there comes Divine Order.” We can only hope that Banff’s administration takes a hard look at how they are handling the situation. Perhaps there will be divine intervention.
P.S. Signage should be at entrances to Banff showing RV drivers where to park.
Eileen Patterson,
Banff
